Our Story

"Is the greatest truth about Adam and Eve and the fruit that it happened or that it happens?...Their story is true for us because it happened and because it happens. It is an accurate description of how life is. The reason the stories in the Bible have resonated with so many people over the years is that they have seen themselves in these stories.

Here's another example: The Isrealites leave the kingdom of Egypt where they are slaves, and God brings them out into freedom.

It happens.

Everyday.

...This is why the Bible is still so powerful. These ancient stories are our stories."

I read that in Velvet Elvis by Rob Bell months ago...but recently I have found a new and deeper appreciation for those words. In my small group with my high school girls we are reading through Exodus...and I can't tell you how much it is speaking to me. I mean I've known the story of Exodus, even read it, I've seen the Prince of Egypt and all...but never before have I resonated so much with it. It truly is my story! Lately I've been feeling like the only reason Moses ever lived was so that he could tell my story.

I was once a slave. I felt trapped. Finding myself in a situation that no matter how hard I tried to get myself out of it...it still held me captive. I begged and pleaded for God to free me from it.

"The Isrealites cried out from their burden of slavery. They cried out for help, and their pleas for deliverance rose up to God. God heard their cries and remembered his covenant...He looked down on the Isrealites and felt deep concern for their welfare." (Exodus 2:23-24) I can remember that point in my story...when God looked down on me and had great concern and compassion for me and decided to free me.

It's wierd...each time I read Exodus, Pharoah represents something else to me. Sometimes I think he's the devil, sometimes I think he's sin...and sometimes I think he's me. Today...he is me. I read about the plagues today...and today Pharoah is me. When I think back on when God decided to free me...it took a long time before I actually was free...(in some ways and some days, I'm still not). The reason it is a process for me is because it was a process for the Isrealites...because Pharoah wouldn't let them go. Pharoah is me. I wouldn't let myself free...my old self...the one afraid of losing control of the situation. So God persuaded me, and it didn't feel so good. God sent "blood, and frogs, and gnats, and flies, and hail and locust...etc; and I reacted much like Pharoah did...at first I passed these things "signs", "feelings", off as nothing more than me...attested them to anything else BUT God...then, when He got more persuasive, I gave in, conceded to let God have His way, to free myself and give up control. BUT...the second he let up, I forced myself right back into slavery (I wish you could read my journals to see how true this is). The Bible is ridiculous in how true it is!

"And when they realized that the Lord had seen their misery and was deeply concerned for them, they all bowed their heads and worshiped" (Exodus 4:31) When I think about my story of deliverance and freedom...the only appropriate response I can have is to fall down in worship. That's what worship is. It's my response to God's concern for me. There's nothing else I can do but worship Him.

That's all for now...I'm sure there's more to come.